I wasn’t ready to ride 1500 miles.
When Becky and I showed up at Lake Itasca in September of 2011, the farthest I’d ever cranked my bike was 35 miles. I’d done that exactly once.
Most of my friends thought I was nuts. Even my biggest supporters had their doubts. I was scared, and Becky was more scared. Any objective observer would have called this thing we were about to do “crazy.”
I called it “following a dream.” I knew I was in exactly the right place, and I couldn’t wait to get started.
When I initially discussed the idea of a cross-country tour with my friend Wayne, I wondered aloud how one would train for an eight-week ride. “You don’t,” he replied. “You train for week 1. Week 1 is your training for week 2, and so on.”
Wayne was exactly right. You’re never ready for the whole thing, all the steps, but that’s okay. You just have to be ready to begin.
It’s tempting to wait until everything’s just right. You might ask God to take the first step and get things in order before you step out of your comfort zone. But here’s the thing.
God might be waiting for you. What if God has the dominoes all set up and He’s just waiting for you to step out in faith and knock over the first one?
Please don’t ask me how this works. I can’t explain it.
I know that waiting for the perfect time mostly leaves me waiting and never starting, because perfect circumstances never seem to appear. I know, at least for me, God’s made it pretty clear that not much is going to happen until I step out of my comfort zone.
Choose based on hope instead of fear.
Hope is a confident expectation based on faith that God keeps His promises. Hope allows us to trust, to follow Jesus and deepen our relationship with Him.
Hope changes what’s possible.
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We have a few more days to accept registrations for the FREEDOM TOUR. I’d love it if everyone would find a way to get involved. Whether you ride 500 miles or one day, join the SAG team, or volunteer, everyone who joins this circle is bringing hope and freedom to kids rescued from human trafficking.
But…are you one of those folks who’s waiting? Are you wishing you could, but you haven’t quite taken that first step?
Maybe you’ve never biked 30 miles in your entire life, but you want to do the one-day FREEDOM TOUR PROLOGUE (Saturday, June 11).
That’s a big step of faith, but you can do it if you sign up and start training now.
Or perhaps you’re standing right at the doorstep of a 500-mile dream, waiting for just the right moment that may never arrive.
If that’s you, or if you’re standing at the doorstep of another dream, I encourage you to choose based on hope.
Yesterday I wrote about Waiting for God to Make The First Move.